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Briarcliff Manor Public Library

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Briarcliff Manor Public Library
File:Public Library in Briarcliff Manor (2).tif
Front entrance to the Briarcliff Manor Public Library facing Library Road
Established 1914[1](p61)
Location Briarcliff Manor, New York
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Collection
Size 30,700[2]
Access and use
Circulation 101,599[2]
Population served 7,696[2]
Other information
Director Melinda Greenblatt[2]
Staff ​2 3⁄4 full-time; 8 part-time[3]
Website No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.

The Briarcliff Manor Public Library is the public library serving Briarcliff Manor, New York. Located on the eastern edge of the Walter W. Law Memorial Park on Library Road, it is a member of Westchester Library System.[2][3] It is staffed by a director and two and three-quarters full-time and eight part-time employees, including reference and youth librarians. It is governed by a seven-member board, with a liaison to the village board. Services include computer classes, book discussion groups, young adult programs, a children's room and a local history collection. Library spending constitutes about four percent of the village budget.[3] The library houses the village's historical society and recreation department offices.

The library was founded in 1914 in the Briarcliff Community Center. From the building's destruction in 1929 and over the next thirty years, the library was without a permanent location, and was moved between sites including public school buildings and the village recreation center. In 1959, the library purchased the former Briarcliff Manor station of the New York and Putnam Railroad. After renovations in the 1980s and 90s, a significant expansion was funded and completed in the late 2000s. The original station building will be opened as a village community center on May 30, 2016.

The Westchester County Bike Trail (also known as the North County Trailway), a 22.1-mile-long (35.6-kilometre) rail trail, runs alongside the building, extending north to Baldwin Place in Somers, and south along NY Route 9A to Eastview in Mount Pleasant.[3][4]

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History

Historical library locations
180px
180px
The 1910 Briarcliff Community Center (top); the former village recreation center (bottom)
A single-story Tudor Revival railroad station
The library before its 2007 expansion; the original Law portion from 1906
Briarcliff Manor librarians
Name Tenure Notes
Louise Miller 1921–1926 Acting while studying library service at Columbia University
Elizabeth Kelly 1926–1927 Part-time art teacher at Briarcliff High School
Grace Baird Hersey 1928–1956 Mother of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer John Hersey
Mrs. William Osborne 1956–1963
Mrs. Robert Widenhorn 1963
Helen Barolini 1964–1965
Sally R. Dow 1965
Bettie Diver 1965–1968
Charles Farkas 1968–1996
Geraldine S. Mahoney
(née Baldwin)		 1997–2010 Founding director of the Desmond-Fish Library, Garrison
Melinda Greenblatt 2011–present
Sources:[1](pp61–2)[2][5][6](pp137, 234)[6](p234)[7][8]
File:WJV Community Center 27.png
The William J. Vescio Community Center dedication ceremony

The Briarcliff Manor Free Library was founded by Edward S. Arnold in 1914 at the Briarcliff Community Center (also referred to as "the Club"). The building, built as a public school in 1898 at the current Pleasantville Road southbound ramp to Route 9A, was sold to the Westchester Parkway Commission in 1928 and burned down in 1929.[1](p61) World War I slowed its expansion, though progress resumed in 1921. This was achieved largely due to the efforts of Amy Bookwalter, at a time when the Library Board consisted entirely of women. On March 8–13 of that year, the Briarcliff Free Library was officially opened,[5] and on September 22, 1921, the library was registered with the New York State library system.[1](p61)

On September 1, 1922, the Club's library funds were transferred to the Library Committee, and the village government donated US$500 ($7,100 today)[9] to the library in 1924. At that time, it had 1,900 volumes, which became 23,000 by 1926, around 6,000 in 1939, and by 1952, 8,000 volumes.[1](p62) In 1988, the library's collections had grown to 25,000.[6](p151)

In its early years, the Briarcliff library received donations from the village Sunday school and the Club.[5] In July 1928, the library was moved to the tower room of the former Briarcliff Farms office building, the present branch of the International Union of Operating Engineers. On March 18, 1930, after invitation from the Briarcliff Board of Education, the library was relocated again. It moved to a large room on the main floor of Briarcliff's high school extension to its Law Park grade school building.[5] In August 1949, the school required more classroom space; the village board then provided two rooms on the second floor of its recreation building on Old Route 100 near the village downtown. On March 18, 1952, the New York State Board of Regents granted the library a provisional charter;[nb 1] that year its registration numbered 503.[1](p62) Also in 1952, the village semicentennial history book notes the need for a permanent home for the library.[1](p88)

Around 1939, the library received an efficiency rating of 93 percent from the Library Division of the New York State Education Department.[5] In 1944, the library received its highest efficiency rating, 98.3 percent, from the Library Extension Division of the University of the State of New York.[1](p62) The 1952 appropriation for the library was $1,800 ($16,000 today)[9]; its expenditures were $1,875.86 ($17,100 today)[9] in 1951.[1](p61)

On January 20, 1959, the library moved to its fifth location, the former Briarcliff Manor station on the New York City & Northern Railroad (later the New York and Putnam Railroad).[11] The station was built in 1906 by village founder Walter W. Law in the Tudor style,[11](p35) as a replacement for a smaller station, moved to nearby Millwood.[6](pp39, 76) The railroad's Putnam Division was discontinued in 1958,[12] freeing up use of the building for the library. The library spent $12,500 ($101,500 today)[9] to purchase the building and an additional $6,500 ($52,800 today)[9] for renovations; it raised $14,000 ($113,600 today)[9] from village residents, with the rest funded by the Library Board. In 1959, the library received its absolute charter, and received a charter in 1964 to become a public library: the Briarcliff Manor Public Library.[13] In the 1980s and 90s, videocassettes were increasing in popularity; The New York Times reported in 1990 that the library had experienced a significant increase in its circulation, with over 5,435 circulated in that year, compared to 2,864 in 1989.[14] In 1985, the library and the Briarcliff Lodge were among 60 sites given historical markers by Westchester County Tricentennial Commission.[15]

The library, which had 3,200 square feet (300 m2), was determined to be too small; other significant problems included no wireless capacity and poor shelving and lighting.[16] In 1980, a large interior renovation took place. Former mayor Chester L. Fisher and his wife led a $50,000 ($143,600 today)[9] fundraising effort,[17] and collected $50,072.[18] Construction started in March 1980 and included interior painting, new shelves, cabinets, and carpeting for the main room, a mezzanine on the south side, a relocated checkout desk and remodeled children's room, and a vestibule in the main entrance designed to match the original building.[17][18][19]

In 1995 village residents held a referendum for a new library of 10,600 square feet (980 m2); it failed by 13 votes, from the 871 cast. From 1997 to 1999, major renovations took place both on the building's interior and exterior. In the early 2000s, plans began for an expansion. A modular building was set up in 2004 as the library's children's room. In 2006, a $4 million bond resolution ($4.7 million today)[9] was passed for a two-story, 6,600-square-foot (610-square-metre) addition, which began construction in summer 2007 and opened February 19, 2009.[3][13] The part of the building that formerly housed the library is planned to be renovated and to become a village community center.[20] The community center has been in development since as late as 2013[20] and held a cost of $1,800,000.[21] The center will be opened and dedicated to former mayor William J. Vescio on May 30, 2016.[22]

Architecture

File:Briarcliff Manor station 1952 02.jpg
The train station's north facade (1952); demolished in 2007

The current structure consists of the 1906 shorter former train station on the south end and a tall extension completed in 2009 on the north side. The exterior was designed in the Tudor Revival style,[11](p35) although The New York Times observed the building as "pseudo-medieval".[23] When active as a train station, the timbering was painted a shade of green used for other New York Central stations.[24] The 2007 addition has the same half-timber and stucco exterior of the original building.[25]

The station's interior was decorated with flowers, oriental rugs on the terrazzo floor, and tables and chairs in the Mission style.[11](p35)[24] During the library's occupation from 1959 to 2009, the building housed a main reading room, children's room, and vestibule and second-story balcony (both added in 1980). The community center opening in 2016 in the same space will hold a meeting room and kitchen on the first floor and an oculus opening on the second floor, which is intended for exhibits and reading, studying, and computer usage.[26]

Operations

File:Westchester Editathon 2014 04.jpg
Second-floor program room in the 2007 library extension

The Briarcliff library is open seven days per week, except in August when it is closed each Sunday.[27] The library hosts four computer workstations and eight laptops, and has its own Wi-Fi network.[28] The building is home to a publicly reservable meeting room, and has a large parking lot accessible from Library Road.[3](p70) The Friends of the Briarcliff Manor Public Library is an organization through which community members may support the library.[29]

Organizations

A rock wall and trees behind a large signpost
The library houses the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society and the Briarcliff Manor Recreation Department

Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society

The Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society (BMSHS) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to local preservation, research, and education. In March 1974, after the village mayor appointed twelve people for a 75th anniversary committee, the committee began by forming the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society; it received its provisional charter around that time.[30] The historical society published an updated village history (A Village Between Two Rivers: Briarcliff Manor) in 1977, marking the 75th anniversary of the village. The organization has since published several books, including a comprehensive history of the village. The publication, The Changing Landscape, a History of Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough, was written by Mary Cheever, wife of novelist John Cheever.[31] The historical society was initially located at the since-demolished Briarcliff Middle School building; it later moved to the second floor of a realty building on Pleasantville Road, and moved back to the school building after it was leased by Pace University.[6](p195) On March 21, 2010, the BMSHS was given a permanent location at the Eileen O'Connor Weber Historical Center, established as part of the library's expansion finished in 2009.[31] The current president, Karen Smith, heads a board of trustees, members of which have three-year terms with a required year recess between terms.[32]

Members of the historical society joined the nine-member Centennial Committee in 2002 to organize events for Briarcliff Manor's centennial.[33] The Centennial Committee and BMSHS helped organize several events for the village's 2002 centennial celebration, including the Centennial Variety Show at the Briarcliff High School auditorium in a sold-out two-night run on April 26–27, 2002.[34] The two-act show consisted of interpretations of village life by village organizations and a revue of Briarcliff Manor history in skits and songs.[33] Other society-sponsored events have included tours of homes and churches, bus tours, Hudson River cruises on historic boats such as the M/V Commander (built in 1917 and listed on the national and state registers of historic places), dances, antique-car exhibits, day trips to historic points of interest, art exhibits and events with authors and elected officials.[31]

Briarcliff Manor Recreation Department

The library houses the village recreation department, which has four staff and a six-member advisory committee, and provides recreation programming for the village.[35] The department has operated the recreation center on Macy Road since 1980, and also runs a youth center on Van Lu Van Road.[36]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The New York State Education Department grants provisional and absolute charters to legally establish educational corporations including schools, libraries, historical societies, and museums.[10]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 1634 to 1699: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. 1700-1799: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. 1800–present: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "inflation-US" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "inflation-US" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "inflation-US" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "inflation-US" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "inflation-US" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "inflation-US" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "inflation-US" defined multiple times with different content
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

 
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